Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
‘Wouldn’t have started’: David Moyes says 25-year-old West Ham United man was not ready to start vs Brighton today
West Ham United boss David Moyes says new signing Thilo Kehrer was not ready to start against Brighton today.
.
And Kehrer made his first start for the Hammers today, despite only signing for the club from Paris Saint-Germain this week.
But the 25-year-old got off to a difficult start to his West Ham career as he gave away a penalty in the first-half.
The former PSG man put in a reckless challenge on Danny Welbeck and Alex Mac Allister stepped up to give Graham Potter’s men the lead.
Kehrer was not ready to start
It was a big call from Moyes to put Kehrer straight into his starting eleven and he has now suggested that it was the wrong call in the post-match press conference.
: “I probably wouldn’t have started Thilo [Kehrer] if I felt as if we’d maybe been in a better place and maybe if I had some other centre halves available, I wouldn’t have started him.”
The Scotsman did have another centre-back in Angelo Ogbonna on the bench, but the player is currently working his way back to full fitness.
Despite the rash challenge that gave Brighton a penalty, Moyes did say that he felt Kehrer put in a decent performance against Brighton.
He added: “I slept on it overnight because I don’t think he was ready to start the game. He certainly wasn’t if you are talking about physical wise or even the boys haven’t had the chance to see how he plays or what he does or what his attributes would be.
“I felt that with the last couple of games having not gone so well, us not winning, I felt we put in someone who is a bit more of a recognised defender, an international player, than Ben Johnson, so that was my decision.
“I thought he actually played quite well, except he made the wrong decision to go to ground for the penalty kick, I thought he should have stayed on his feet. We gave the ball away terribly and they countered and I think if he stayed on his feet, I think he probably would have seen it.”
It was a tough start to life in the Premier League for Kehrer. But the Germany international will undoubtedly learn from his mistake today.
The Hammers only announced the signing of the centre-back on Wednesday, so he didn’t have a lot of time to work with his new teammates ahead of today’s game.
Kehrer’s performances will undoubtedly improve but Moyes will be hoping his side can turn their poor start around after losing their first three Premier League games this season.